


Stages of Love

by avxry



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Cute, Enemies to Lovers, James knows all, M/M, ace/aro John Laurens, flirting?, yes i referenced rent in the title end it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-28
Updated: 2016-11-28
Packaged: 2018-09-02 20:24:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8682220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/avxry/pseuds/avxry
Summary: It happens in stages.





	

It happens in stages.

The first stage is simple. It starts out small. He glances this way, the other glances that way. They stop meeting each other's eyes. It's too much, a little too strong, something is hidden in there. They don't ask what.

Nobody notices, until they do.

"You okay?" someone asks, and Alexander turns around to face them. John is looking at him with concern on his face.

"Yeah, why?" he replies. He really is fine. He doesn't know there's anything off.

John shrugs. "You just seem a little distant, I guess."

Alexander shakes his head thoughtfully. "No, I'm okay."

They nod, and it's over.

When James asks Thomas, it happens a little differently.

"You okay?" James questions, not as concerned. He looks up from his writing with a raised eyebrow. Just checking in.

"Hamilton is a fucking idiot," Thomas says, as if that's an answer.

James's eyebrow recedes further up his forehead. "And that means?"

"It means I'm not okay, Jemmy," Thomas whines, throwing himself down on the chair across from James's desk.

"I've told you to stop calling me that."

Thomas totally pretends he didn't hear that, but he totally did. "I can't believe he still tries to argue with me. You'd think he would have backed down by now."

"He's probably thinking the same about you," James counters, always Thomas's gentle opposing force.

"Well, it's different."

"How so?"

"I'm right."

James rolls his eyes, mumbles, "You're fine," and goes back to his work, and that's the end of it. Mostly.

In the next stage, what began as pointedly not looking at each other morphs into definitely looking at each other, for longer and more meaningful stretches of time. They never catch each other, but nearly everybody else notices.

"Thomas, you're staring."

"Hm?"

"You're staring," James repeats, a twinge of annoyance lacing his voice. "At Hamilton. Again."

Thomas snaps out of it and shrugs it off. "Just lost in thought, I suppose."

"Suppose so," James replies bitterly (he wishes that Thomas and Alexander would just shut up for five seconds and get on with it already).

Washington also catches on. He approaches Alexander, "Son."

Alexander spins on his heel to face Washington, biting back his distaste for the nickname. "Yes, sir?"

Washington's eyebrows scrunch up in a look of concern. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, sir," Alexander replies with a nod, a little worried where this is going. "Why?"

"You just seem . . . preoccupied," Washington comments offhandedly, but they both know he means more than he says.

"I assure you, sir, I'm quite alright," Alexander promises, and Washington nods a little, letting him go (he also wishes they would get on it with it already).

And then after the not-staring and the staring, then begins the touching stage. It's unnerving, to say the least.

Alexander and Thomas are arguing in the breakroom again, for a reason they don't entirely recall, but the argument has devolved into petty insults and name-calling. Everyone around them just rolls their eyes, having heard all of this before. They ignore them the best they can.

Thomas throws out another derogatory claim, stepping into Alexander's personal space. Alexander lifts his hands up to press back on his shoulders, and, to his credit, he does push, a little. But mostly, he's just keeping his hands there, feeling the form beneath them.

The arguing has halted. They just stare angrily at each other, Alexander's hands still on Thomas's shoulders, and now everyone starts paying attention.

They whisper, "Is this it?"

They whisper, "Is it finally happening?"

The answer is no, because Thomas grumbles something angrily under his breath and runs off, presumably to find James Madison and complain a little more. Alexander stands there for just another moment, but he eventually leaves, too, presumable to find John Laurens and complain a little more.

That is the most dramatic event in the touching stage. There are also little things. Their shoulders brush more, not angrily as they used to, but companionably.

Through their sarcastic politeness, where they would usually shake hands or feign other friendly gestures, their hands remain longer.

Thomas once tries to keep Alexander from leaving by grabbing his wrist, and he only lets go after another bout of arguing when someone else walks in the room.

They pretend they don't notice it's happening. They ignore the shift.

And then the smiling stage. They just smile at each other, when they think no one is looking, when they don't care if someone is.

When they aren't supposed to be looking at each other (the staring stage trails on into all the others) and their eyes catch, they try their best to grimace or scowl, but their face has other plans. They find themselves smiling when they look away.

"Alex, you've been acting weird lately," John comments over lunch, which Alexander is actually eating, for once.

"How so?"

"It's Jefferson," John says immediately. "Is something going on with you two?"

Alexander gives him an incredulous look, as if astounded by the sheer thought of such a thing. "Absolutely not, never in a million years. Why would you even ask? You know we're enemies. He's the most insufferable man I've ever met."

John raises an eyebrow, picking at his salad. He offhandedly shrugs, "You're smiling."

"What?"

"You're smiling, right now," John repeats. John is, in fact, also smiling, chuckling at his entirely clueless friend.

"I'm not smiling," Alexander argues, but it falls without force. Even he knows that he's smiling. He just tries to ignore it.

James and Thomas have a nearly identical conversation. "Are you and Hamilton a secret thing now?"

Thomas nearly chokes on his sweet tea, giving James a look of surprise from across the table. "I despise even the thought of Hamilton; why would I ever be interested in him?"

James rolls his eyes and takes a bite of his salad. "You're smiling."

"What?"

"You're smiling," he repeats, pointing at Thomas's face with his fork. "You smile when someone mentions Hamilton."

"I do not."

"Thomas, I may be sick often," James says pointedly, "but there is nothing wrong with my eyes."

Thomas knows he's smilling. Still, he shakes his head and changes the subject. That's what's easiest.

After the smiling comes the meetings stage - not the every-day meetings, but the ones after those. After a staff meeting, one of them will summon the other to his office so they can further discuss the topic at hand.

Everyone just keeps rolling their eyes.

Thomas asks Alexander the first time. Alexander raises an eyebrow and is prepared to rudely decline, but he's always ready for a debate, so he rudely accepts instead.

They just keep fighting. The meeting does them no good whatsoever. Alexander exits Thomas's office fuming, teeming with anger. He shouts some insults he didn't get out before as he's leaving. They each run to John and James, respectively, to groan about how entirely insufferable the other is.

And yet they keep suffering each other. They meet in Alexander's office this time, a month after the meetings start. They begin by arguing.

But they actually argue instead of spitting insults, and they slip into a rhythm. They're no longer yelling, and the term argument doesn't adequately describe the interaction anymore. It becomes an actual debate, even a friendly one. They migrate to the chairs in front of Alexander's desk, angling them toward each other.

Alexander makes a joke at Thomas's expense, but there's no anger behind it. Thomas takes it in stride and sends another jab back. They both laugh.

Thomas leaves the office that day with a wave, and thought it's a little bitter, there's a smile there too. They're both left with the distinct feeling that their dynamic has entirely changed.

The next time, they're in Thomas's office, discussing Alexander's advocacy for lighthouses. The day is dragging on into the evening, but they've hardly noticed. Thomas tells his assistant to not disturb them, and they talk for hours - actually talk.

They stop talking about lighthouses roughly two hours into the meeting. The conversation drifts into more friendly topics, and they're actually enjoying themselves. They end up giggling ridiculously at some story Thomas tells about college, and everything is more comfortable than it ever has been.

Alexander had kicked his shoes off about an hour ago, just before sunset. He tucks his feet beneath his legs and looks back at Thomas with sparkling eyes.

Thomas's smile is leftover from the giggling fit, but there's something else behind it, something a little softer.

They finally leave, Alexander sliding on his shoes and Thomas putting his coat back on. The previous stages bleed together here.

They stare at each other for a moment, and then they don't stare. Their faces break into soft smiles, directing their gazes at the floor. Thomas opens the door to his office to show Alexander out.

As Alexander leaves, Thomas places a light hand on the small of his back, leading him out. Alexander feels a little tingle at the bottom of his spine at Thomas's touch, it's intimate and warm and he likes it too much.

Everyone else has gone home. They walk together to the front doors. Alexander says, "John is probably wondering where I've been."

Thomas feels a twinge. "Are you and Laurens . . . invovled?"

Alexander raises an eyebrow. "Involved," he repeats.

Thomas nods. " . . . Romantically."

Alexander lets a smile float to his lips. "No," he says, "we're not. John isn't interested in anyone."

Thomas is slightly confused. "What do you mean?"

"He's asexual and aromantic," Alexander explains, and something bristles inside his chest, ready to defend his best friend's honor.

"Ah," Thomas nods in understanding. Still, he prods on, "Are you interested in him?"

This is too personal already, they both know. They've changed, but not this much, not yet. Even so, Alexander replies, "No. John was never like that to me. Just a good friend."

Thomas nods once more, too happy with the answer.

They part ways and walk off into the night, unable to name the exact feelings they're harboring.

The meetings continue with a different atmosphere. The air between them has shifted. They spend their free time in one of their offices, talking about important things and unimportant things.

And then the most important thing: "Do you want to get dinner?"

Alexander plays off the question as if it doesn't mean as much as it does. Thomas doesn't know how to respond. He wants to say yes, dinner would be fantastic, and he wants to say no, I can't do this anymore, it's too hard.

He says yes anyway, and they end up at a little diner, eating pancakes for dinner. It's achingly normal and domestic, and they still don't know what they're feeling, but it feels good. It feels like pieces falling into place, like a warm afternoon on soft grass, like - like Alexander and Thomas, eating pancakes at night. It feels like them, and it feels right.

They finish and leave the diner. Thomas walks with Alexander to his house, hands in his pockets, pretending that he doesn't wish he could just snatch Alexander's in his own.

They reach Alexander's house, and Thomas doesn't want to leave, but he will anyway. They bid each other goodnight and Thomas goes home.

The final stage happens the next day.

Alexander walks into work, nervous but determined. At the end of the day, he repeats to himself, all day long until the time comes.

He tells John he'll probably be late again. John gives him a cheeky smile, saying, "Get some, Hamilton."

Alexander laughs and shoves John out of his office as he leaves. He shuts the door behind him, and John walks to the front entrance as he walks to Thomas's office.

The door is open, welcoming him in. They both knew he'd be coming. Alexander speeds into the office when he sees Thomas, determined to just get it over with, and if he's rejected, then that's fine.

Thomas smiles at him as he enters. "Hamilton," he greets, "I was wonder -"

"Alexander," he says in a rush, "call me Alexander," and he grabs Thomas by the shirt and pulls him down, connecting their lips in a frenzy. Thomas doesn't react, but then he does, and it's like a fire. He grasps at Alexander's back, dragging him ever closer.

Their bodies move in tandem, giving and taking. They kiss roughly and then softly, pulling away with little grins.

And Thomas says, "Alexander."

And the final stage ends. But that's when it all truly begins.

**Author's Note:**

> idk i think this one's cute, if a little ooc 
> 
> thank you for reading, and i love taking prompts!!
> 
> (look out for my soon-to-come jamilton project!)


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